


Reset

by RenZai



Series: Saeyoung Week 2018 [3]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Major spoilers for 707's route, Moderate spoilers for all routes, Reset Theory (Mystic Messenger), Seven has dubious reasoning in this but I still love him, There's multiple relationships listed but there's no cheating I promise, With hints of Seven's a Wizard Theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 20:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15251571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenZai/pseuds/RenZai
Summary: Seven, with all his talent and technology, is the one to force the reset after each route, for different reasons each time. He loves you, and he knows you could love him if you just give him a chance.Written for Saeyoung Week Day 3: Reset Theory





	Reset

Seven wasn’t technically a wizard, not in the traditional sense, at least. He was a hacker and a genius and he’d developed the ability to bend reality with his technology, but he didn’t use a wand and sparks and magic in the way that most people thought of wizards. Instead, he hid himself in his computer lab, typing and editing and working until he learned how to return his world to a certain checkpoint - to reset it, if you will.

That checkpoint was the moment that you entered the very first chatroom with the RFA. There was something about you, a certain sparkle in your eye and laughter in your voice, and he wanted to know more. He found himself falling more with every message, with every call, with every chatroom, but you didn’t seem to see him the same way.

~*~*~*~*~

You go for Zen first. Seven can understand your responses to the actor’s flirtation - Zen is sweet, and hot, and flirty, and any girl would be lucky to have him. That doesn't make the hacker any less taken aback when, five days after you entered, the background on his own version of the app changes to a translucent image of Zen. Clearly something has happened, some choice has been made, and now you're meant to end up with Zen.

But that doesn't feel right. Zen is too narcissistic, too self-centered, hates Jumin for no particular reason, doesn't eat nearly healthily enough to maintain his perfect figure, and is far too possessive of you, always talking about “the beast”. Also, he hates cats - you deserve someone better. So Seven gets to work, shutting himself in his room as you flirt and laugh and spend time with Zen. Day after day he slaves over his keyboard, studying the day you’d arrived for any inconsistencies, typing and erasing and retyping as his eyes grow bloodshot, until the day of the party arrives.

He brings his main laptop to the party. Nobody questions it - he’s meant to be looking up evidence on Echo Girl, after all. He does that, hidden behind the stage, but he also finishes his program. Zen is talking, going on and on about his girlfriend, and then you come up on stage - time is growing too short. Zen proclaims his love for you, Seven’s heart twists at the words, his finger comes down one last time, and - 

~*~ Reset ~*~

He opens his eyes, and is hit with déjà vu. No, not just déjà vu - he’s really experiencing it again. The same chatroom, the same discussion about Yoosung failing his midterms, your name up at the top just as it was before. He breaths a sigh of guilt-laced relief - he knows it was wrong, taking away your freedom and your chance of a happy future with Zen, but surely you’ll be happier this way.

This time you go after Yoosung. Seven likes Yoosung well enough, understands his gaming addiction and his love for Honey Buddha Chips, and they’re the closest in age so they communicate largely through memes that the others don’t understand. But Yoosung isn’t good enough for you - he’s too young and naive, doesn’t have a purpose in life, confuses you with Rika far too often to be healthy. Seven lets it go on because Yoosung is a friend and maybe he’ll grow up a bit if he’s with you, and if you could both be happy then maybe that would be good enough for Seven.

But it all goes so terribly, terribly wrong. Seven allows Yoosung - brave, stupid little Yoosung - to come with him to Mint Eye. Seven gets distracted and then everything happens too fast and then they’re rushing to the hospital and he can’t breathe and Yoosung can’t see and it’s all gone sour. Yoosung urges him to go to the party anyway and he does, but he can’t meet your eyes because he’s allowed your young boyfriend to get hurt while he was supposed to be protecting him. He pulls out his phone and pulls up the program he’d typed up, the one that would set everything back how it was, and his thumb hovers over the button so maybe he could do it again, could do it better, could save Yoosung. But then the blond shows up, all smiles despite the bandage around his head, and he pulls you into a sweet kiss. Zen is shocked by Yoosung’s innocent ‘beast’, and he bumps into Seven’s elbow, and Seven watches in horror as that simple bump moves his hand just enough to hit the button on his phone and the world goes grey and - 

~*~ Reset ~*~

He wakes up in a cold sweat this time. Looks wildly around, seeing only his computers rather than the elegant party, and his phone in his hand shows the familiar grey of the chatroom. Yoosung’s going on about his midterms, and Seven’s shaking fingers barely manage to compose his reply before he sets his phone down and closes his eyes. This is good, he tells himself. Yoosung is safe, and he probably wouldn’t have been a good match for you anyway. With a few deep breaths, he manages to convince himself that he didn’t just take away his friend’s one chance for happiness.

You choose Jaehee next. Seven doesn’t have a problem with that - he’s all for LGBT relationships and all that - except that Jaehee isn’t right for you either. She’s nice enough, but she’s always so focused on work, and she’s not passionate about anything but Zen. Not only that, but she doesn’t seem to realize that you’re flirting with her. She keeps going on and on about how she’s so glad to have finally found a friend, and that friendship between two women can be just as beautiful as love between a man and a woman, but that’s clearly not what you want.

The party arrives, as it always does. Jumin tries to recruit you as his assistant, which you don’t get a chance to decline before Jaehee takes the mic. Seven watches as Jaehee offers you a key, offers to start a place with you, as partners. But it’s entirely platonic, and the small frown on your pretty face shows that you know and don’t entirely approve. You like her as more than that, but it evidently will never work out. Seven pulls out his phone, face expressionless as he navigates to the proper program. He feels a pang of guilt, because maybe altering reality regularly shouldn’t be something he’s gotten used to, but that doesn’t stop him. You look into his eyes, give a tiny nod like you know what he’s doing, and - 

~*~ Reset ~*~

He opens his eyes, and something feels different. It’s the same chatroom, same words, same responses, but there’s a whisper in the back of his mind that he’s changed something, maybe messed with reality a little too much. All the chats are the same throughout the first day, but on the second they all change - he’s done this three times now, and these are definitely different. His heart leaps as he interacts with you more and more - maybe he has a chance this time, maybe you’ll choose him.

But his increasingly obvious flirtations go unnoticed by you, and you chat with Jumin instead. Seven can understand your fawning over Elizabeth the Third, but he doesn’t quite get how you’re actually managing to communicate with Jumin without dying of boredom. On the fifth day, his background shows Jumin, and it’s all he can do not to throw his phone across the room. It only gets weirder from there - Jumin gets possessive and stops caring about Ellie and focuses only on you, and you seem so scared but there’s little Seven can do. Jumin struggles to show his emotions, and it’s weird when he tries, and there’s celebrity drama that of course Seven gets pulled into collecting evidence for.

At the party, Jumin has the gall to send Seven to fetch you, like he’s some errand boy. More celebrity drama, that pink-haired drama queen truly believing that Jumin is proposing to her. At least it’s somewhat entertaining, a rare smile tugging at Jumin’s lips as he exposes Sarah. Then chaos ensues, reporters swarming everywhere, and then they’re coming over to Seven, to you, and it’s not fun anymore. Everything goes silent as Jumin drops down to one knee, and Seven’s heart drops in his chest. Jumin proposes - the entitled bastard, thinking he owns you after just eleven days. That’s not right, not fair, you deserve more than this dramatic rich kid, so Seven takes out his phone once more and - 

~*~ Reset ~*~

This time, he’s determined. He’s the only one that’s left, so you have to choose him, don’t you? And he promises himself that he’ll make it worth your while. He’ll be more modest than Zen, less injured than Yoosung, more romantic than Jaehee, less possessive than Jumin. He’ll be smart and kind and funny, even if it destroys him, so that he can be the perfect boyfriend to you. He can’t tell you any of his secrets, of course, but 707 can be an amazing boyfriend, he’s sure of it. After participating in the very first chatroom, he deletes all traces of the Reset program from his phone and his computer so that nobody can possibly take this happiness away from him. 

And happiness, it is. Every time you flirt and joke and laugh with him in the chatroom, his heart skips a beat and a smile spreads over his face. You follow along with his humor seamlessly, when he looks at the CCTV you’re already there looking up at him, and you make him so happy that he forgets to be sad. 

The unknown hacker gets tougher and tougher to beat, but he fights with all his might so that you can keep smiling. When it’s decided that he should go over to the apartment to be with you, to protect you, he tries to react as seriously as the situation calls for and just barely refrains from punching the air in excitement. He can go over there and woo you and make you see how perfect he can be for you, and he can protect you much more effectively when he’s close. The situation is dire, but he knows he’ll be over to win you over.

When he arrives at the apartment, all his plans fly out of the freshly broken window. He locks eyes with the unfamiliar mint color of the eyes he once knew so well, and the smile and color both flee from his face as he immediately recognizes his mirror image. His brother - his precious twin - his Saeran - is threatening you, is threatening himself, looks nothing like the gentle boy he once was. The special security system activates at just the wrong time, and Seven - that is, Saeyoung - can hardly recognize his own voice as he warns Saeran to leave. He knows that he should just take you and get out, leaving the intruder to die, but he can’t possibly leave his brother. Not again. Hatred burns in Saeran’s eyes before he disappears out the window once more, and the glare hits Saeyoung’s heart like a thousand daggers. 

The next few days are a blur. He’s awful to you, rude and inconsiderate and cold, but it’s not you he’s focusing on. There’s only one person that means more to him than you do, and he’s desperate to know how his Saeran became like this. He withdraws into himself, snapping at you every time you’re kind. He doesn’t deserve your kindness, doesn’t deserve your love. Saeran’s appearance reminded him of that. Reminded him that he betrayed and abandoned the person that meant the most to him, reminded him of all the times in their childhood they were told that they didn’t deserve love, reminded him that you could do so much better than him. Maybe you should be with Zen, or Yoosung, or Jaehee, or Jumin - they had their faults, but they weren’t him. They would never abandon their twin for their own safety - no decent person would.

Happy, cheerful Seven doesn’t exist anymore. There is only Saeyoung, broken and distant, spending every minute either fighting the hacker or wondering how his brother became his enemy. And you’re so unfailingly kind - too kind for Saeyoung. 

But you worm your way back into the heart he’d tried to push you out of, insist that you go with him to rescue his brother. And you constantly remind him how much he loves you, until he finally breaks down and admits it. You’re so brave, sneaking around with him, chasing down Saeran and taking down Mint Eye and never turning your back on Saeyoung once. He doesn’t deserve you, he knows he doesn’t, but you don’t seem to care. You love him, and he loves you more than he knows how to handle. 

Even through Saeran’s long and difficult rehabilitation, you are kind and patient and loving. You never push or pry, you understand that Saeyoung and Saeran need time to heal and reconnect. And Saeyoung loves you so. You don’t properly meet Saeran until he’s already been living with Saeyoung for weeks, and you’re just the sort of kind and patient that he needs. Saeyoung can hardly believe that his two favorite people get on so well, can’t believe you wear a ring from him on your finger every day, can’t believe he’s managed to find a family at last. 

~*~

It isn’t until you’ve moved in with the twins that Saeyoung finally notices. Notices the way Saeran looks at you when he thinks Saeyoung isn’t watching. Notices him breathless when you walk or talk or smile. Notices the sparkle in his eye whenever you’re around. Notices that at some point, without Saeyoung’s knowledge or permission, his twin fell madly in love with his fiancée. 

So, with a heavy heart and leaden feet, Seven makes his way to his computer room. Robotically types up the code that lodged itself in his brain. Tears in his eyes, tells himself he’s doing the right thing. Forces himself to hit the proper button, feeling like he’s throwing away his only chance at happiness.

After all, there’s only one person that means more to Seven than you do, and it certainly isn’t himself.

~*~ Reset ~*~


End file.
